Stopping the Stuff Envy

There’s a new movie out called “Keeping Up with the Joneses” (if you don’t like spoilers, skip down a paragraph), about a staged family that moves into a new neighborhood to promote envy for a whole series of consumer goods: the high definition TV, new golf clubs, specialty foods, cosmetics, etc… A brilliant Machiavellian twist on the American dream, or is it.  In many ways, all of us are the neighbors located in some infomercial of products, and being encouraged to buy, buy buy.  When I posted about, “Why does spending make us feel good?” it struck me that one of the main reasons was that we humans seem to like to purchase positional goods, or goods where the value comes from showing it off. To avoid over-purchasing positional goods, here’s what I recommend:

–Recognize the problem — with the current recession, it is finally acceptable for some people to admit that they want to get off the treadmill and aim for simplicity. Recognizing this is the first way to create a plan of action.

–Purge your stuff– one of the best ways to reset thinking about accumulating stuff is to sell or donate a lot of possessions. I found the ridding of stuff to be incredibly freeing and it helped to recast how (un)important a lot of stuff really is.

–Sign up others in this effort — one of the key things I’ve found is that many others want to get off of this treadmill of overspending and it’s a matter of someone taking the first step.  It’s a lot easier if you have like-minded buddy.

–Put yourself on a strict allowance — either through a cash system or a limit on your credit cards to prevent impulse spending. Returning items, since often times, after arriving home, I have experienced buyers remorse, may help as well.

shared at this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance